Analysing materials

Providing a description or summary of the case is not enough to do well in a case note assignment, unless your assignment instructions specifically state that you should only summarise the case. Therefore markers will look for evidence of your ability to analyse the case. To analyse a case is to ask what the case means, or how the judges decide, or why the decision has been made in that way. In the context of the case note, analysis requires breaking down the judgment and considering how some or all of its parts are related to each other, and the larger legal and/or social context.

Consider the following excerpt from the case note on Getachew. Does it contain a good analysis of the case? How do you know?

Case reading strategies

The student’s position in the example above could have been supported by a deeper level of analysis, going into more depth regarding why, or how, the decision was made, and the legal impact of the case. For a case note assignment, using effective case reading strategies will help you to better understand and analyse the case. Complete the following tutorial for some handy tips on reading a case. The relevant case is Getachew v R.

Synthesising the case with your research

The following questions may help you to analyse the impact of your case.

You should consider whether there has been any legislative amendments since the judgment. For example, the student could have considered the legislative amendment on rape and consent which was passed in 2014. There have also been 2015 and 2016 amendments on the same topic.

You may also consider looking at the associated Second Reading Speeches and Explanatory Memoranda to better understand the intent of these amendments.